Boer said Calvin will continue to be hospitable to its LGBTQ students.
“I don’t want to be the president of an institution that isn’t welcoming to everybody,” Boer said.
Boer, who has a Ph.D. in history from Yale University, and most recently worked as head of Shell of Nigeria’s renewable energy division, does not have a background in academic administration.
But he said he was intrigued by the position after reading an email to alumni.
“They were looking for someone who understands the Reformed tradition but has a global outlook and is entrepreneurial and innovative,” Boer said. “I thought, this kind of sounds like me.”
Boer said he wants to build on the university’s newest initiatives — a new business school with both undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as a new school of health. He is also proud to move the institution toward environmental sustainability. It just signed a contract with a company that will convert the campus’s daytime energy use to solar.
He said he wants to build on the school’s diversity — 17% of its students consider themselves ethnic minorities and another 12% are international students.
Boer, a huge soccer fan, wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the history of football in Nigeria. And his Twitter feed is filled with tweets supporting Calvin’s various NCAA Division III athletic programs and athletes.
“He’s a breath of fresh air,” said Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a professor of history at Calvin University and one of its star faculty members. “He has a deep appreciation of the best of what Calvin has been and could be — its academic mission, its global presence, its Dutch Reformed tradition. His attitude is, we do incredible things here, let’s go do it.”
RELATED: Fallout over LGBTQ spouses at Calvin University captures broader evangelical divide
This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.
, continues a proud Christian Reformed Church tradition of Dutch Calvinism.){kind=link}